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Xsikins: Care of tlie Honey. 



Now that we have secured so nice a 

 crop of lionej-, let us see what we had 

 better do with it. With the beginning 

 of August our white honey should all 

 be taken oft" the hives, or it will be 

 soiled more or less by the bees running 

 over it. Take ofl' all cases where sec- 

 tions are completed, and return such 

 as are not sealed over, to be finished 

 during the fall bloom. 



Bee-keepers should have a work-shop 

 and also store-room for honey. The 

 honey, as it is brought in from the 

 apiar\-, maj' be temporarilj- fitted up 

 in the cases, but as soon as there is 

 time, it should be emptied out, and all 

 the sections carefully scraped of pro- 

 polis, and then piled up on broad 

 shelves around the walls of the honey, 

 room. It is best to pile it loosely, 

 leaving about a half-inch between the 

 sections to allow air to circulate. 



When it has been some two weeks 

 oft" the hives, it should be fumigated 

 with sulphur, to kill the wax-moth, 

 which is sure to appear, especially if 

 there is any pollen in anj- of the sec- 

 tions. Some bee-keepers claim that 

 this is unnecessary, but I have never 

 had an early croj) of honey, that did 

 not need it. 



In piling up the sections it is a good 

 plan to put paper that has been pre- 

 pared with paraffine, to prevent ab- 

 sorbing moisture at the bottom, and 

 between each tier of sections. There 

 will always be some leakage, the best 

 we can do. and this prevents the honey 

 from any upper sections from running 

 over those below. It also saves the 

 honey leaking out, which can be used 

 for bee-feed if nothing else. 



Now when jou wish to market the 

 honey, get some nice, new shipping- 

 cases with glass on at least one side. 

 Now take a board and saw it oft" so it 

 will just fit inside of the case. Now 

 lake the paraffined parchment paper, 

 and make a pan liy folding it over this 

 board, and turning the covers, and 

 you have a nice i)an for the bottom of 

 your shipping-case to catch any pos- 

 sible drip. This paper can be had very 

 cheaply, and answers the purpose bet- 

 ter than anything I ever saw. 



Crade Ibe Honey. 



Now when you get an order, or wish 

 to make a shipment, gi'ade the honey, 

 so it will run even in each case, and so 

 that the sections next to the glass will 

 be a fair sample of the whole. If the 

 cases hold two tiers high of sections, 

 put a paper between them, and a few 

 la}"ers of old newspapers on top. Nail 

 Ion the top with small wire-nails. Cut 

 but a stencil brand, and that parch- 

 bient paper is just the thing to cut it 

 I out of, "This side up. Keep out of 



the case. Tlie kind of honey and your 

 address should be on one end, and the 

 l)arty to whom you wish to send it on 

 the other. Common shoe blacking 

 will do for stenciling. Honey packed 

 in this way will go as safely by freight 

 as by express, at about a quarter of 

 the cost. 



A Hive on tlie Scales. 



On June 28 I placed a strong swarm 

 on scales to see how fast honey was 

 coming in, and found they gatltered 

 8 jjounds the first da}'. On July 4, 

 when basswood was in full bloom, they 

 gathered 15 pounds, and on the 5th 18 

 pounds. From that date thej' began 

 to drop oft', till now they gather but a 

 pound or two per day. What puzzled 

 me at first was, that in the morning I 

 woidd find that thej' had lost about a 

 pound, but that was easily accounted 

 for by evaporation. 



Then I was surprised to find that up 

 to noon they would gain nothing at all, 

 but this, too, was easily explained by 

 the weight of the bees absent in the 

 fields. These experiments are not only 

 interesting, but valuable, as showing 

 about how much honey is being gath- 

 ered, and how fast sections and cases 

 must be given. Thus we found that 

 from June 28 to July 8 the bees in our 

 apiary were bringing in more than 

 1,000 pounds per da}'. Of course this 

 does not all go into the sections, as a 

 certain amount is consumed by the 

 bees. I am satisfied, however, that 

 man}' bee-keepers failed in not giving 

 room fast enough. 



Milan, Ills. 



CONVENTION DIRECTORY. 



1889. Time and Place ot MeeUng. 



Oct. 11— 12.-Northwestern, at Chicago, Ills. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec, Flint, Mich. 



Oct. 23, 24.— Union, at Mt. SterlinB, Ills. 



J. M. Humbauyh. aec. Spring, Ills. 



Dec. 4-6.— International, at Brantford.Ont., Canada. 



K. F. Holtermann, bee, Romney, Ont. 

 1890. 

 May 2.— Susquehanna Co.. at Hopbottom, Pa. 



H. M. Seeley, Sec, Uarford, Pa. 



I^n In order to have this table complete. Becre- 

 caries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetiuKS.— Ed. 



sei^W^^^ 



Beginiiin$; in Bee-Keepins — 



Mrs. J. M. Null, Miami, Mo., on .Sept. 

 17, 1889, writes : 



Since Aug. 10 I have been the happy 

 possessor of an apiary ; and could any 

 one know how long and ardently such 

 a state of things have been wished for 

 by myself, then, and then only, could 



be realized how proud I am ; but I 

 shall not remain so very long, unless I 

 can make a success of bee-keeping. 

 My bees are Italians (110 colonies) ; 

 and have produced 16,000 pounds of 

 extracted white clover honey this sea- 

 son, under the manipulation of Mr. T. 

 A. Anderson, their previous owner, 

 who seemed too modest to report, but 

 I think they deserve praise, even 

 though their manager seeks not fame. 

 The bees have on hand 6,000 pounds of 

 fall honey, and are still working. 



I should like to hear the remainder 

 of that man's story, who improvised a 

 Christmas tree (see page 522) on the 

 spur of the moment. It was real 

 amusing. Give us the benefit of 

 another laugh. Mrs. Harrison spoke 

 of a high board-fence as protection to 

 passing teams, etc. ; will she please 

 state how high such a fence should 

 be ? and what kind would be best ? 

 Would it have to be tight ? 



Bec§ in Good Condition. — B. F. 



Pratt, Dixon, Ills., on Sept. 16, says : 



Bees have done well here this year. 

 I had 6 colonies in the spring, and I 

 now have 25. I have taken 700 pounds 

 of honej', and all of m}' bees are in 

 good condition for winter. 



Oood Average Per Colon}'. — 



Arthur F. Brown, Huntington, Fla., on 

 Sept. 19, 1889. says : 



Bees are doing well. I exi)ect a 

 good harvest from the fall bloom, 

 which is just opening. My 3 best col- 

 onies, up to date, have given 96, 97, 

 and 103 pounds of comb honey ; 82 

 pounds was the average for the whole 

 apiary. 



IVaniele§s Bee-Disease. — Alonzo 

 Skinner, Mesa, Ariz., on Sept. 17, 

 1889, writes : 



Mr. Thielmann's article, on page 

 584, seems to demand further explana- 

 tion from me. In reply. I would say. 

 that some of the colonies that were 

 aft"ected last season, were purchased 

 from other parties, and some of them 

 were here at the time when the first 

 one was a8"ected. I would further 

 state that I do a good deal of work 

 with other people's bees, and I found 

 quite a number of colonies aft"ected 

 last summer, but have only found one 

 colony aft'ected this summer, and that 

 was my own. I feel positive that the 

 so-called "nameless bee-disease" 

 comes from nothing but a lack of salt 

 in their food, and I think that if bee- 

 keepers would place salt where the 

 bees could have access to it, it would 

 do a great deal of good. 



